Posts Tagged ‘engraving’

Hayter’s fascination with the relief character of the printed burin line led him and other members of Atelier 17 to explore printing techniques that emphasized the sculptural nature of the engraved plate. As early as 1931, experiments were made at Atelier 17 with “plaster prints,” or actual plaster casts of engraved copper plates. Hayter learned about this technique of making a print in plaster of Paris from a Treatise on Etching by Maxine Francçois Antoine Lalanne
This technique had the advantage of demonstrating the relief of the lines more clearly than the lines of an inked print on paper. The print (on paper) reveals more of the subtleties of engraving such as fine lines and tonal relationships, but the plaster cast emphasized the depth of the engraved lines. * Thanks to Joanne Moser, Atelier 17 A 50th Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition, Elvehjem Art Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison 1977

We are proud to offer Hayter’s Myth of Creation 1940 (BM134), along with a state-proof impression from the same plate. Plaster prints are hybrid works that both print making and sculpture. Other examples can be found in major museum collections and it is a rare opportunity when a superb example like Myth of Creation comes becomes available for sale.

We are proud to offer some early engravings by Louise Bourgeois (French-American, 1911-2010).

In 1946 Bourgeois finally found her way to Atelier 17, the intaglio workshop that Stanley William Hayter had moved from Paris to New York in 1940. The expertise of Hayter and the array of international artists who worked there made the Atelier a center of printmaking activity in the city. When asked about the Atelier Bourgeois noted the social setting, she stated, “There were a lot of interesting people there…” The Chilean artist Nemecio Antunez, who spoke French became a good friend, and she developed a close relationship with Joan Miró when he was at the workshop in 1947. Bourgeois undertook there her most important print project of the forties: the book/portfolio He Disappeared into Complete Silence. *Thanks to Deborah Wye, from The Prints of Louise Bourgeois.

From this period with 1949 we have Hanging Weeds Wye #56. Ours is a strong, elegant proof after the third state. We also have a proof impression of Plate 3 from the folio, He Disappeared into Complete Silence 1947. These rare works came to us from Hayter’s own print collection, as did Nemecio Antunez’s City Dwellers 1950. Mr Antunez (Chilean, 1918–1993) later became a major figure in Chilean art.